Best of 2013 #6 – House Joint Resolution 6: the Battle for Marriage Equality in Indiana

The fight for marriage equality reached the boiling point in 2013. From the landmark Supreme Court decisions striking down the federal Defense of Marriage Act and deferring to the lower court decision that found the ban of same-sex marriage created by California’s Proposition 8 referendum to be unconstitutional under California law to Maine, Maryland, Washington State, Rhode Island, Delaware, Minnesota, California, New Jersey, Illinois, Hawaii, New Mexico, and most recently, Utah legalizing same-sex marriage in their states, either by legislation, ballot referendum and court decision, the move toward marriage equality gained a massive amount of momentum this year. In 2014, decisions regarding same-sex marriage will be taken up by Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Oregon, Nevada, and Colorado, which could potentially lead to legalization in 24 states and the District of Columbia or nearly half the country. Indiana may be another state where big decisions are made regarding same-sex marriage next year. On January 30th of 2013, the Indiana House issued Joint Resolution 6. HJR6 proposes amending the Indiana Constitution to define marriage HJR6 states that “Only a marriage between one (1) man and one (1) woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in Indiana”. It was supposed to have been voted on earlier this year, but just a month after the United States Supreme Court scheduled oral arguments on the DOMA and Prop 8 cases, the amendment was pushed back to the 2014 legislative session.

CREDITS
The best of 2013 is a production of the WFHB news department.
Today’s episode was produced by Jennifer Whitaker and Alycin Bektesh.
Correspondent Jennifer Whitaker and David Murphy and Producers Cleveland Dietz and Harrison Wagner contributed to today’s reports
Our theme music is provided by Legs
Executive producer is Alycin Bektesh